Having been a huge fan of Mexican food all my life, I always keep canned black beans and corn in my pantry. I think you can come up with so many recipes using those two ingredients. A few examples of my all-time favorite recipes are my Quinoa Black Bean Bowl, Mexican Stuffed Peppers, and Black Bean Quinoa Tacos.

In today’s post, we are using black beans in an easy salad recipe. While I call it a Black Bean and Corn Salad, you can also think of it as a delicious summery side dish to serve with chicken, meat, or vegetarian dishes or with tortilla chips on the side as salsa.

Black Bean and Corn Salad served in a bowl

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Why Should You Make This Recipe:

This simple black bean salad is a lifesaver when you need a side dish quickly. I also love it because:

Easy & Quick To Make: It is made by using pantry staples and fresh ingredients in just about 20 minutes from start to finish.
It is so versatile: It is the perfect side dish to serve during all your barbecue, potluck, or picnic gatherings, but it could easily be a part of your meal prep if you want to enjoy something light for lunch during the week. Oh, and I sometimes make a batch and serve it with tortilla chips as a black bean salsa.
Easy to customize to your liking: While my version of the black bean salad recipe I am sharing is a basic one, it is endlessly customizable to fit your dietary preferences—more on that below.
My version of it is slightly different: While you can find many different versions of this healthy black bean and corn salad on the internet, I am confident that my version is different thanks to the secret ingredient I used in the dressing.

Ingredients You Will Need:

As with most salad recipes, you have two sets of ingredients: The dressing and the salad ingredients.

Ingredients for this salad are photographed from the top view

For the Zesty Cilantro lime dressing: Gather fresh lime juice, garlic cloves, olive oil, chopped cilantro, salt, and black pepper. I also add a few tablespoons of juice of pickled jalapenos (hello secret ingredient), but that is optional.
For the salad: Gather canned black beans, corn kernels, sliced cherry (or any fresh) tomatoes, red bell pepper, pickled jalapeno (optional), red onion, and fresh cilantro (as garnish.)

A Few Helpful Notes on The Ingredients:

Black Beans: I used canned beans to make the process faster. However, you can always use the black beans you cooked yourself. If you want a good resource, my friend Traci’s post on How To Cook Black Beans is the one I always use.
Corn: I used fresh corn (leftover from making Mexican Street Corn) as it is in season right now. However, you can make this salad with frozen and canned corn as well. If using frozen corn, place it in a large bowl and fill it with cold tap water. Let it sit for 10 minutes, drain and use it in the recipe. If using canned corn, I recommend using a 1 (8.5) ounce can of whole kernel corn.
Pepper: As you can see in the pictures, I opted for red bell peppers, but any color of bell peppers would work. If you don’t mind some heat, you can swap bell peppers with jalapenos as well.
Not a fan of cilantro? Simply omit it or use fresh parsley instead.
Hot Sauce in the dressing: If you are a fan of spicy food, feel free to add a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce or a pinch of red pepper flakes in the lime vinaigrette for some heat.
The secret ingredient (aka pickled jalapeno juice): I learned this tip at a Mexican restaurant when I visited Mexico. Their salads tasted so much more flavorful than the ones I made. I was told that they use a combination of pickled and fresh jalapenos and always add a splash of the pickle juice into the dressing. While it is optional, I think following in their footsteps you can make the Best Black Bean and Corn Salad.

How To Make

The Black Bean Tomato Corn Salad recipe has four folds:

Confetti Black bean corn salad photographed from the top view

Make The Salad Dressing: Place all salad dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk. Alternatively, you can put everything in a mason jar and give it a shake until thoroughly combined.
Prep the Salad Ingredients: Place all ingredients in a salad bowl (or a large mixing bowl).
Pour the dressing over: Drizzle the bean mixture with dressing and give it a toss.
Serve: Enjoy your visually pleasing confetti-like bean salad asap.

A woman is photographed as she is mixing the Corn Black Bean salad

Need inspiration for more corn salad recipes? Here are a few that I make often:

Make Ahead and Storage

Yes, you can. As a matter of fact, I encourage you to make this Black Bean Corn Salad in advance. I usually make it a day in advance and keep it in the fridge covered with stretch film. The time spent chilling allows all ingredients to mingle and build more in-depth flavors.

What To Do With The Leftovers?

I doubt that you will have leftovers, but if you do just place your salad in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge. It will still be very good the next day.

Want to enjoy it for lunch the next day? While I usually serve this black bean vegetable salad as a side dish, if I am serving it the next day, I turn it into a delicious and filling lunch by adding a cup of quinoa or brown rice.

A woman is photographed as she is drizzling the salad with the dressing

Expert Tips

The thing about this black bean and corn salad recipe is that you can change it up in any way you want. Here are a few ways you can jazz it up:

Black Bean Corn Avocado Salad: Since I usually serve my corn bean salad with tacos, I almost always make a big bowl of guacamole. That is why I didn’t add avocados into the salad recipe you see below. However, if you want you can always add in a cubed ripe avocado into the recipe. If you decide to do so, be sure to add it right before serving it as avocados make the whole salad mushy if you add them in advance.
Black Bean Salad without Corn: If you are not a fan of corn (or don’t have any on hand), you can simply omit using it. Instead, you can use some cooked chickpeas or kidney beans in place of corn.
Swap Red Onions with Scallions or Use Both: I can’t imagine a Mexican bean salad without a chopped red onion, but if you want you can swap it with fresh onions or use both.
Serve it warm or cold: While this salad is usually served cold, if you are serving it during the cooler months you can lightly sautee the black beans and corn to serve it warm. I usually do this if I am serving it as a side dish with meat dishes during the holiday season.
Give it a Southwestern flair? If you want to give it a Southwestern flair, feel free to use my Chili Lime Vinaigrette instead of the garlicky lime dressing in the recipe below.

How Many Calories is A Serving?

This corn black bean salad recipe serves 4-6 people and each serving is around 209 calories. You can see the breakdown of the nutritional data in the recipe card below.

Whether you are serving it as a side dish for a picnic, BBQ party, or for yourself by itself for lunch, I hope this healthy black bean salad recipe will wow your friends and family and have them ask for more.

Want More Black Bean Recipes?

Black Bean and Quinoa Tacos
Five Bean Salad
Texas Caviar
Mexican Quinoa Recipe
Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Vegan Chili Recipe
Cuban Black Beans and Rice – Well Plated
Healthy Baked Tilapia with Black Bean Salsa – Give Recipe

This post was originally published in July 2019. It was updated in May 2021 with additional helpful information and with no changes to the original recipe.

Black Bean and Corn Salad